1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to ink jet recording method and apparatus, and more particularly to ink jet recording method and apparatus in which information patterns are formed in the form of dot matrices on a record medium by the movement of the record medium and the deflection of ink droplets.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
When pressurized ink is ejected from a nozzle toward the record medium, the ink ejected from the nozzle is separated into regular droplets as the nozzle is mechanically vibrated. When the ink droplets are electrically charged and then projected in a static field, the droplets are deflected depending on the magnitude of the charges imparted to the respective droplets.
Thus, when the recorded medium is moved in one direction and the ink droplets are repeatedly deflected in a predetermined angle to the direction of the movement of the record medium, which may be a right angle when the deflection speed of the ink droplets is much higher than that of the record medium, dot matrices can be formed on the surface of the record medium. In this case, when the droplets projected straight-forwards are collected before deposition on the record medium and at the same time the amount of charge imparted to the droplets is controlled, information patterns can be formed on the record medium in the form of dot matrices. A great many of such ink jet recording methods and apparatus have been proposed. This type of ink jet recording is advantageous in its high operation speed and its quiet operation, and therefore, has been used for industrial marking. In such a system, the record medium is conveyed by a conveyer, the moving velocity of which varies with production control or power supply control. The variation in the moving velocity of the conveyer results in a variation in the moving velocity of the record medium, and consequently the dot matrices are thrown into disorder, so that a distortion of the recorded patterns occurs. In order to prevent such distortion of the recorded patterns, such methods may be considered wherein the period of formation of the ink droplets is adjusted depending on the moving velocity of the conveyer or the conveyer is operated at a constant speed during recording operation. However, in the former method there is a drawback that the operation of the apparatus is liable to be unstable since it is necessary that the ink pressure and the vibrating frequency are changeable, and in the latter method there is a drawback in that the conveyer apparatus becomes complicated, and hence the entire manufacture becomes expensive.